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Product Description

In a fiery visit with her estranged mother, lonely widow Lily Winter learns a long-kept secret---she has an identical sister who was adopted when they were born. Without looking back, Lily travels around the globe in search of her other half. Will God redeem her broken relationships---and reunite her family after all this time? 272 pages, softcover from River North.

Publisher's Description

Lily Winter's wings are folded so tightly around her daughter that when empty nest arrives, she feels she can no longer fly. But Lily's lonely, widowed life changes in a heartbeat when she goes to visit a woman who is almost a stranger to her-a woman who also happens to be her mother. During their fiery reunion, her mother reveals a dark family secret that she'd been hiding for decades-Lily has an identical twin sister who was put up for adoption when they were just babies.

Without looking back, Lily-with her fear of flying-boards a jumbo jet and embarks on a quest to find her sister which leads half way around the world to Melbourne, Australia. Befriended by imprudent Ausie, he might prove to be the key to finding her sister. But her journey becomes a circle that leads her back home to attempt a family reunion and to find the one dream she no longer imagined possible-the chance to fall in love again.

Author Bio

ANITA HIGMAN Bestselling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has been writing for thirty years and has forty books published. She's been a Barnes & Noble "Author of the Month" for Houston and has a BA in the combined fields of speech communication, psychology, and art. Anita and her husband are building a storybook home in the woods and plan to move there by the end of the year. A few of Anita's favorite things are good movies, fairytales, traveling, gardening, exotic teas, and brunch with her gal friends. Please check our her latest novel, Summer's List, through Moody Publishers. Feel free to drop by her website at www.anitahigman.com or connect with her on her Facebook Reader Page at www.facebook.com/AuthorAnitaHigman. She would love to hear from you!

Editorial Reviews

"Imagine being raised by a mother who always remains distanced and restrained, even into your adulthood. Imagine a mother who doesn't rejoice and melt into an emotional mess when you make her a grandmother. Imagine a grandmother who doesn't dote as your only child grows strong, beautiful, kind as she approaches her teens. As the years pass and the rift between the two of you grows, a rift you've never understood, would you try one more time for answers, or would you just dismiss your previous life as something done and over?

Many of us would bury that past and embrace the work, child, and faith that have brought security and happiness to our lives, even if that life was scarred. Lily, however, decides to confront her mother one more time... You must read Anita Higman's new contemporary novel Winter in Full Bloom, a suspenseful story about family, and the difficulties of overcoming mistakes made in the past. You'll be caught up in Lily's questions that surround the unknown and the rush to find answers, as well as the emotional fragility of the other sister abandoned years before by her mother.

Winter in Full Bloom by Anita Higman, I enjoyed this book. The setting in Australia made it more interesting. Although some parts of it were predictable, the author did manage to surprise me with some of the twists of the plot. I enjoyed the unfolding story and the revelation of the author's characters. I would recommend this to those readers who enjoy a novel laced with some romance. 4 out of 5 Stars

-Review by Karen Britton, Net Galley, October 19, 2013

Winter in Full Bloom by Anita Higman is a story about how Lily Winter learns to let go of her fears and hurts and experiences living. You will fall in love with the characters and laugh and cry with them. I could imagine each and every place that was mentioned it this book. I have read several of Anita Higman's book and I love her writing style, whether it be in her non-fiction as well as her fiction books. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

-Review by Rebecca Lewis, Librarian, October 24, 2013

Winter in Full Bloom is a story of how people respond to the hurts they experience in their lives. Sadly, they were hurt - mostly - by family members, the very people they should have been able to trust. As a result, they've become something less than they were created to be, often with a lack of self-worth. . . I totally understood the relationship between Lily and her mother due to circumstances in my life. But the biggest 'lesson' I took from this novel was about trust and learning to trust again. We need to take a flying leap (pun intended) as Lily did, and let His arms catch us. If you're looking for a beautiful novel about a life reborn, I heartily recommend this one.

--Proverbial Reads, August 27, 2013

"The cover on Winter in Full Bloom is absolutely the most beautiful cover I have ever seen. To add to that, if you move it under a light, you can see the snow falling ~ if you have a little of Irish wonder, that is!

...I really like how the back story is written, telling the passenger across the aisle on the long airplane crossing to Melbourne. A seasoned traveler, young Jenny replaces the jitters of flight for Lily Winter by listening to the remembering and experience of the telling. Lily gets settled in her hotel and immediately goes to St. Paul's Cathedral; the only clue she has to locate her sister. As she is pondering in the park, perchance another "Texan" arrives...

Marcus mentions he attends services at St. Paul's and does some volunteer work for them ~ which would put him there at irregular hours too. But... sleuthville ~ IF he knew of Lily's sister, who happens to be her identical twin from description given her, wouldn't he have called her "Camille"?

I am sure you will want to find out too how this emerges. Will she go back to Texas empty-hearted or... is Melbourne her new city?"

Anita Higman brings us a story that will take the reader, or at least it did me, on an emotional rollercoaster ride. We meet Lily winter and journey with her from Texas to Australia looking for answers, hoping to let go of past betrayals and maybe finding her inner self once again. she experienced a rather bleak childhood being raised by nannies while her mother basically ignored her. Last year her husband died suddenly of a heart attack and recently her daughter left for college. On a visit to her mother she is informed, for the first time, that she has an identical twin sister that was adopted when she was a baby. Lily sets out on a journey in search of her sister in hopes to make a connection which leads her to Australia. Unfortunately her journey leads to mare questions than answers, but it also brings wonderful suprises. This is a beautifully written story with lots of imagery that will keep the reader turning the pages. This is a story that will literally pull the reader in. I would recommend it to anyone.

Anita Higman has penned an amazingly beautiful, heartrending contemporary story of healing and redemption, as one woman's journey to find her twin sister in Melbourne, Australia, leads to more than she could have ever envisioned. Ms. Higman's use of descriptive imagery and my love for Australian settings was a match made in Heaven! With very real characters, situations, and raw emotions -- this novel gets two thumbs up from me!

Anita Higman has penned an amazingly beautiful, heartrending contemporary story of healing and redemption, as one woman's journey to find her twin sister in Melbourne, Australia, leads to more than she could have ever envisioned. Ms. Higman's use of descriptive imagery and my love for Australian settings was a match made in Heaven! With very real characters, situations, and raw emotions -- this novel gets two thumbs up from me!

This winter, curl up with this book by prolific author, Anita Higman, and have those chilly days warmed by your reading. Anita is a best-selling and award-winning author with 33 books published. She is also a wonderfully warm and witty woman. I so enjoyed meeting Anita at the International Christian Retail show in 2012.

Winter in Full Bloom will capture your attention as its heroine, Lily, captures your heart. Lily, divorced from her cheating husband, has a fiery confrontation with the mother who she felt never loved her. Not able to bear the scorn, and learning the shocking fact that her mother had another daughter, Lily travels half-way around the world to Australia to find the sister in hopes of building a relationship. While in Melbourne, she is accosted by a man who just may have the key to her past. Against her better judgment, Lily becomes friendly with him and enlists his help.

Will she find her sister? Will the stranger stay in her life? Will he solve his own problems? Will her mother ever reconcile with her? Read Winter in Full Bloom for the answers - and to be enchanted by the story and the writing.

Lily Winter, a recent widow and new empty nester, finds herself on an unexpected journey to Australia seeking the twin sister she didn't know she had. Feelings of rejection by her "odious" mother and straying late husband are disrupted by a chance encounter with a fellow Texan who has fled to Melbourne. Sparks ignite as Marcus Averill and Lily become better acquainted, and their lives soon intertwine as do their similar family problems.

Can Lily and Camille bond as adult siblings? Will they ever be able to relate well to their mother and forgive the hurts of the past? And how will Marcus fit into Lily's family drama? He also needs to receive forgiveness and restore relations with his parents as well as forgive himself. The multiple threads and layers of this novel and the author's skillful characterization and word-weaving make for a satisfying read. The characters grow so dear you don't want to say good-bye but hope for a sequel to learn what happens with Camille.